The 50 year old Derby resident had spent the day fishing and crabbing before beaching his motorboat on a sandbar neat Point Torment. The area is notorious for crocodiles and strong currents associated with some of the biggest tidal movements in the world.

After cooking crabs for dinner on the sandbar, Mr Bennett had gone to sleep in his boat. But when the tide came in after dark, it brought waves which started breaking over the stern of his boat.

"It just happened so quickly. By the time I woke up, it was 30 seconds later, less than that possibly, then my boat was gone and I'm knee deep standing on sand and thinking about what I should do." said Mr Bennett.

Having left his emergency equipment in his boat, he decided his best option was to make a bid for the mangrove forested shoreline over two kilometres away.

"I made a mistake then... If I had have grabbed my flare bag and just taken one flare out of it and put that in my underpants or something, that probably would have helped me later on."

Mr Bennett was able to race the incoming tide across what remained of the sandbar, before having to swim about half a kilometre through the muddy water in the darkness of night. Clambering through the mangroves, at times crawling through the deep mud, the tide eventually caught up with Mr Bennett and he was forced to seek refuge up a tree for five hours.

After dawn another boat spotted the sunken vessel, revealed by the dropping tide. Emergency services started land and sea searches, and Mr Robert was found walking on a track inland from Point Torment.

Surviving a night-time shipwreck in dangerous waters with just minor injuries to his feat, Mr Bennett counts himself lucky and is grateful to his rescuers.

'I have a great appreciation of what they did for me: I can't thank them enough."

Listen to Robert Bennett talk to George Manning on Kimberley Mornings.